Entries tagged with: Gone to Governors

Sadly, 2010 was the first and last year for "Gone to Governors,'" the series of 10 free summer shows that went down last year on The Beach at Governors Island. Water Taxi Beach will still operate the beach though, and their might be some ticketed shows on the beach, but that is not even definite at the moment.

Saturday night's "Gone to Governors" show included sets by Neon Indian & Miniature Tigers, Dom, Nite Jewel, and Prefuse 73 who probably would have been the headliner if the order of the lineup was based on seniority. Instead Prefuse played fourth, before the much buzzed headliner Neon Indian who will also be Scott Herren's tour-mate across North America in the fall.

Prefuse's live Governors Island hip hop-infused set included electronics, vocals, live drumming and coordinated, sometimes-pornographic visuals. The sound was booming and they sounded great in the outdoor setting. If you didn't feel like dancing, you could always just watch the screen, or walk around staring at the water and skyline with bugged out zombie eyes as many in attendance were.

Prefuse 73 will play a DJ set at Studio Square in Long Island City on Saturday, August 21st, as part of an oil spill benefit. There doesn't seem to be too many details about the event listed anywhere, but Myspace says 9:00-11:30.

"Well, from what Alastair, Ken and Christopher say, it looks as if music fans (and maybe bicyclists) have been the luckiest Governors Island visitors so far, both for the quality and sheer number of events.

The permit process must be deterring amateur concert promoters -- thank goodness -- and yes, as a tourist attraction, a pop concert feels like a more festive destination than a theater marathon. (The party can start on the boat.) Pop concerts are also used to building their own infrastructures, and audiences are prepared for outdoor, standing-room shows. And of course, unlike the situation for the visual arts or dance, there is immediate big money to be made from concert tickets for Grizzly Bear or 50 Cent. Corporate sponsors have been paying to produce many of the better events.

Summer in New York City is a riotously competitive time for outdoor concerts -- Summerstage, Celebrate Brooklyn, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, P.S. 1, Jelly NYC and other series are all presenting first-rate shows, many of them free and more convenient at exit time -- but Governors Island has held its own this year." [NY TIMES]

"This time it is so sexy to be living in America, Dom. Governors Island greater than Coney Island forsuresure." - Blanca Méndez

"Bad news, this is our last show ever", Dom told the Governors Island crowd on Saturday night (8/15). He was lying of course. Most obviously because the band will be leaving on a tour with Ratatat in September. That's the same tour that comes to Terminal 5 for two nights (October 8th and 9th). Dom is opening at least the first one. Tickets are still on sale for both.

Dom's other funny show moments included a "triple awesome" moment (three things were "awesome" in a row), his shoutouts to many sponsors including Converse (who were affiliated with the event) and Mountain Dew (who weren't, but maybe Dom had a reason to be thanking them too?), and his pausing to check "the little list of songs they had there" (or something like that) (aka the setlist).

The music was entertaining too. Dom doesn't have the best live reputation. The young band was pushed into the spotlight early and has been heavily scrutinized as they figure things out in front of large audiences, but most seemed to agree that they loved them Saturday night (their best songs are especially undeniable, as is the frontman's charisma). More pictures from the show (which Neon Indian headlined), below...

Erika from Au Revoir Simone joined Neon Indian for a song @ Governors Island

Special guests are usually show highlights, and this time was no exception though Erika Forster's appearance on stage with Neon Indian on Governors Island was a bit marred by the fact that you could barely hear her at first. They played a live version of the Neon Indian remix of "Another Likely Story". The second half of the song was really good though, as was most of Neon Indian's headlining set. Some in the crowd held glo-sticks and wore headdresses as they danced along to the chill waves being transmitted over the multi-colored, lit-up palmtree-decorated beach that gives everyone a beautiful view of the Manhattan and Jersey City skylines (including the performers who made note of the view at least once).

The Converse-presented "Gone to Governors" show also included entertaining and free sets by Prefuse 73, Dom, Nite Jewel, and late addition, Arizona band Miniature Tigers who were kept secret until after their Friday night Mercury Lounge show with the Spinto Band. At Governors Island, they went on at 8 and played 6 songs. I missed them by a minute (I got there before Nite Jewel went on).

Neon Indian, who produced the track "Gold Skull" on Miniature Tigers' new album, will pair of up with Miniature Tigers again, for a fall tour, and for a semi-secret, private NYC show at The Studio at Webster Hall tonight (8/16). The intimate show will be taped and streamed live by MTV.com.

7:30 doors
8pm Miniature Tigers
9pm Neon Indian

I don't know if MT's opening set will also be streamed, but you can check it out if you attend the show which... you can go to for free if you win one of the three pairs of tickets I have to giveaway. Details on how to win those tickets below.

Neon Indian will be releasing "a newly mastered deluxe edition CD and double Vinyl" of their debut album Psychic Chasms "on September 28, 2010 and digitally on August 31 via FADER Label / Static Tongues"...

Nite Jewel played a perfectly pleasant set at the beautiful Beach @ Governors Island setting on Saturday night. They were 2nd of five on the 'Gone to Governors' bill that was headlined by Neon Indian. The pictures in this post are from that show.

Wall Street Journal: How are you adjusting to the move from Austin to New York?

Alan Palomo: New York has a really funny way of lighting a fire under your a** and keeping you in that state of mind where you have to be creative just to even survive. Whereas I feel like Texas, as much as I love it, it's so laid back it inspires a breed of meandering.

WSJ: Are you feeling pressure to keep up the momentum?

Alan Palomo: As soon as we're off tour in late October, I'm going to start writing the new Neon Indian record. And I'm already halfway done with the VEGA record. I figure for the Neon Indian record, I need to get out of New York, given that I have so many friends there. I need to throw myself into that state of mind that helped spawn the first one, which is to isolate myself in some city that I don't know much about. The fantasy is Helsinki.

And this past weekend, while Dom was playing the Siren Festival (Apache Beat too) (they did the remix you can download for free above), Alan was busy in Chicago hanging out and then playing the 2010 Pitchfork Festival (Neon Indian's set was on Sunday). Some more pictures from his Pitchfork set, and all NI dates, below...

When the members of The Chain Gang of 1974 kicked off the evening's show at 8:00, the area in front of the stage was only sparsely populated, but people continued to filter in from the ferry as the sky dimmed. From the first notes of the thumping bass line, and the repetitive chorus of their opening song ("Stop!"), I admit I was pretty skeptical of the Denver artist and his backing band.

"Wake up! Come on! Wake up!" shouted front-man Kamtin Mohager as the beats from "Stop!" were winding down. He tossed his yellow guitar pick into the crowd, broke out a tambourine (and his best falsetto), and enthusiastically launched into the next song. From there, things only got more ridiculous. Throughout the course of their short set, Mohager hurled everything from water bottles to CDs and even a pair of bright red Converse high tops into the crowd, striking anyone unfortunate enough to be in the way.

Later, as Mohager shouted the line, "Just bob your fucking head," the crowd stared on in disbelief (and mild amusement). The Chain Gang of 1974's set was entertaining - but perhaps not in the way Mohager intended. The over-the-top delivery, unpredictable projectiles whizzing through the air, and lyrics about getting high all made for quite a show - even if it was only accidentally entertaining at best.

Phantogram

Next up was the impossibly hip duo, Phantogram, from upstate New York. Immediately, the mood shifted. There's nothing accidentally hip about keyboardist/vocalist Sarah Barthel, right down to her perfectly angled haircut, chic black clothing, and deeply intoxicating voice. Behind the duo, a series of swirling, indistinct images (with the occasional urban or pastoral landscape) were projected onto the wall to accompany their soulful electro beats, which served as a nice segue to Caribou's trippy (but upbeat) psychedelic fair. From the pulsating beats and sexy vocals of "When I'm Small" to the moodier strains of "You Are the Ocean" (which guitarist Joshua Carter sings), Phantogram's songs are captivating regardless of the tempo.

Caribou also made use of the projector for their show, favoring concentric circles (like their recent album art) and other brightly colored geometric arrangements, but far from sticking to black, each of the four members donned a lightly colored shirt. Knowing they'd have plenty of time for things to escalate, Caribou kicked off their set with the slowly building "Leave House" from their spring release, Swim.

"Everybody, we're Caribou. How are you doing? Thanks for coming to see us," said front man Dan Snaith by way of introduction. Though the stage at Governors Island is a decent size, Snaith and his band occupied only about 20% of it. Instead of leisurely spreading out, they had elected to sit closely huddled in the middle, with a ring of monitors and amps surrounding them. From this intimate set-up, they looked at one another for subtle timing cues as many of their songs are elongated in a live setting to allow for trance-inducing instrumental interludes. Far from hogging the spotlight, the pleasantly unassuming front man spent more time facing drummer Brad Weber than the audience. At times, Snaith would join Weber on the drums in what seemed like perfect synchronicity, as if they two were riding the same trance. Meanwhile, the crowd at the beachfront danced around, appreciatively, in a way that was appropriately both subdued and carefree, depending on the song.

"Jamelia," the final track on Swim, was particularly intoxicating with its smooth vocals, chill beat, and hypnotic synth line. But just when the audience was starting to fall into a coma brought on by the song, Caribou followed up with the more upbeat (and truly expansive) "Sun," which sent ripples of life into the crowd that coincided with the song's periodic swells.

But with each passing minute, more people vacated the area and lined up at the gate - no doubt to land a spot on one of first ferries back to Manhattan. By this point in the summer, the long lines - one of the major drawbacks of the Governors Island shows - are no secret. When Caribou came back on stage for their encore, even more people filed out, leaving only the most dedicated (and blissfully unaware) fans to dance in the pit 'til the end of the show.

Governors Island Ferry Information Update for the Friday July 16th show (Caribou and Phantogram featuring The Chain Gang of 1974)

We encourage everyone to come early and enjoy the beach. Governors Island ferries will run from the Battery Maritime Building until 5:30PM. If you are on the island early, please make sure to get yourself to the Beach venue by 5:30PM where concert wristbands will be available
Dedicated concert ferries will depart after 5:30PM. Please enter the ferry queue at the NORTH end of the Battery Maritime Building.

Show time is 8:00PM.

Wristbands will also be distributed at the Manhattan ferry departure point on a first-come, first-serve basis, starting at 5:30PM.

"A trip back in to the mainland to visit the flasks. Best idea of the summer. Lucero! Governors island!" - Travis

Though it barely ended up raining at all during the four hour concert itself, I think the prospect of rain scared people away from Saturday night's free Lucero show on Governors Island. It was the least attended edition of the Converse-presented "Gone to Governors" series so far, but that actually made it extra cool for those who did go since there was tons of space to stretch out and enjoy the non-heatwave weather, chillwave-palm trees, sandy beach and views of the Manhattan skyline .

Jonny Corndawg, accompanied by two band members, kicked the night off right with a fun set of country music and a side of good advice (such as staying healthy through exercise, meditation and eating garlic once in a while). People sang along to the ultra catchy "Shut Up". People paid attention when he dropped the instruments to preach a Capella style.

J Roddy Walston and the Business followed with a high-energy performance of piano-infused Southern rock that warmed people up for Lucero's two-hour headlining set that ended right at midnight.

It was at least the third time I saw Lucero this year and this show was as much of a party as all others (what I remember of it anyway). More pictures and a bunch of videos from the night, below...

Wild Nothing opened the night with a blistering set of tunes that had me groovin'....

Freelance Whales were up next, and I had high hopes for their set....The band was good, but not great...

The Morning Benders played an incredible set the last time I saw them at The Music Hall Of Williamsburg. I didn't think they would be able to top it, but the did. With the devastatingly beautiful backdrop of NYC accompanying them, there was nothing but good vibes floating all round their performances...

...the band played a great cover of the Fleetwood Mac classic "Dreams". The guys nailed it down so well that one wouldn't be at fault for mistaking the song as a morning benders original.

That wasn't the only cover that they did. The band also covered Joy Division's "Ceremony", which Chris said was one of his favorite songs....The set ended with the always incredible "Excuses" which brought a huge singalong from the crowd... [We All Want Someone]

The second of the summer's free Converse Presents: Gone to Governors shows on Governors Island happened on Saturday night (June 19th) with sets by the Morning Benders, Freelance Whales and Wild Nothing. Like the first (Yeasayer) show, the space filled up, this time about an hour before the music (though they let some more people on to ferrys around 8:30, after the beer fest that was also happening on the island emptied out).

The next show in the Gone to Governors series happens on July 3rd with Portugal. The Man and Alberta Cross (that's a day before She & Him play a July 4th free show on the island with Oakley Hall).

For the Dr. Dog show now happening on Sunday, August 15th (note the date change), atmospheric indie-folk-rock Chief have been added to one of the opening slots.

More pictures from Saturday with the setlists and some videos are below...

What is now being considered the full lineup for the ten-show, Converse-sponsored "Gone to Governors" series at Governors Island is almost complete (openers still TBA). There are ten shows total - seven of which are on Saturdays. One is on a Friday. Two are on Sundays (one of which is July 4th). All except Local Natives on August 7th are free.

The doors are at 6pm, show at 8pm for all shows (except for the afternoon She & Him show, which has doors at noon, show at 4pm). I originally thought there would be shows every Saturday, but I'm told this is it (for now anyway).
http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2010/06/dr_dog_governor.html
Ferry service to Governors Island for the "Gone to Governors" shows is free. As previously reported the series is being co-produced by Bowery Presents, Highline Ballroom and Mad Dog Presents with Converse and event partner Water Taxi Beach. BrooklynVegan is the media sponsor.

The Morning Benders will headline the second show in the series on June 19th, and they just released new song "Go Grab A Stranger," a Big Echo b-side currently available as a limited tour 7", streaming below. A remix of their song "Cold War" by Oakland act Wallpaper is available above.

"Go Grab A Stranger" and more info on the Gov. Island shows are below...

This summer in NYC is already boiling over with free shows and none of the Sunday Pool Parties at the Williamsburg Waterfront have even been announced yet (sort of). Spending Sundays at free concerts in Williamsburg is now a tradition that started a few years ago at McCarren Pool (and relocated last year to the Waterfront). Sponsors come on board to make sure the bands get paid, and we all get to spend days outdoors in a somewhat unique NYC concert environment.

There's Summerstage, Celebrate Brooklyn, and other series of shows all summer long, but none are quite like (as "hipster"?) as the Pool Parties. Until now. As previously mentioned, there will be "a new free Saturday-afternoon concert series at the Beach". Sponsored by Converse, and booked by Bowery, there's now a place to go on Saturday too. Also with bands in the day, outside and for free. They're calling it "Gone to Governors".

As also previously announced, She & Him are playing a free show on Governors Island on the 4th of July (a Sunday). That show will be considered part of the "Gone to Governors" series that now also so far includes Yeasayer on June 5th and Neon Indian on August 14th.

"All shows at The Beach on Governors Island will be held rain-or-shine. Beer, liquor, non-alcoholic drinks and food will be available for purchase. For more information about the ferry schedule, the series, artists and performances, general restrictions and rules and the latest updates and additions to the lineup, visit The Beach at Governors Island website at www.thebeachconcerts.com."